service in the mistaken belief that he was becoming too old for it and

needed a more settled life. So, he had studied law instead, married

Joan, and was rewarded with two fine kids, Mark and Miriam. Though

successful as a lawyer specializing in the drafting of complex

agreements between government departments and civilian aeronautical

research establishments, he had become increasingly bored with Wall

Street and started calling his old military buddies to ask them for work,

official or otherwise, that was more important and exciting. Convinced that matters in Europe would eventually lead to another

world war, he had used his Ivy League Wall Street friends to build up

strong connections in Washington, DC, and London. Eventually he

managed to convince the army's chief of staff, General Douglas

MacArthur, to let him embark on an unofficial intelligence-gathering

trip to Europe, in the guise of studying international laws relating to

aeronautics. During that trip, in 1932, aided by some old friends who

were now with the well-organized British Intelligence Service, he had

travelled extensively and reported, in particular, on the growing

militarism of Germany. What he had seen there had shocked him and

made him fear for the free world. He no longer shared his own

government's confidence that America could stay out of Europe

certainly not if the National Socialists, under Hitler, got what they

wanted and upon his return to the United States had insisted in his

lengthy report that the country must prepare itself for inevitable

involvement in another world war.

While his report had not been taken seriously by the White House,

since then General Taylor had used him as an unofficial agent between

Taylor's army air force intelligence branch and British intelligence, as

well as a legal adviser, general administrator, and headhunter for the

soon-to-be formed National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics

which is why Bradley had made his recent, unsuccessful trip to Robert

H. G.o.ddard in Roswell, New Mexico.

'But why would our air force be interested in a bunch of amateurs?'

General Taylor asked, after a thoughtful pause.

'Because they're not amateurs,' Bradley told him. 'The Verein fur Raumschiffart was founded in 1927 and soon included most of the rocket experts of the day: Hermann Oberth, Max Valier, Rudolf Nebel,